Has he specifically called out the connection or is this your pet conspiracy theory? It doesn’t seem too far off, to be honest.
I'm pretty sure I recall him mentioning electric vehicles and solar cells being important for mars, but I don't remember the interview.
Elon and SpaceX have been pretty explicit about Starlink as a system for funding the development of Mars transit vehicles and initial colony, though I'm sure a mini-Starlink around Mars would be in the long term plans.
I don't recall anywhere that Elon Musk has mentioned anything about The Boring Company being used for tunneling on mars, but the connection makes a lot of sense to me, as initial colony development would probably take place largely underground as a cheap radiation shield.
1. Electric cars were created with Earth in mind. Musk was, and probably still is, very interested in ways to help fix the climate issue, and that reason was mentioned explicitly.
2. Connected to 1, not to Mars.
3. I'm not sure what the motivation here is; the official one was that Musk was bored ( :) ) in traffic. It meshes with Tesla's business if properly integrated. That said, the utility of tunnels for Mars settlement seems so big that I'm pretty sure he had it in mind too.
4. No colonies in a nearby future will need a Starlink-scale planetary Internet network. I'm 100% buying the official version here: Starlink exists to generate revenue for further work on the Mars transportation system/BFR (whatever its current name; Starship I think?).
I really don't think these were part of a grand plan all along. But they're all ultimately relevant for Mars.
[0] https://waitbutwhy.com/2017/03/elon-musk-post-series.html
According to them, Bezos feels the same way. Amazon is basically a means-to-an-end, and that "end" is to get humanity into outer space, as an insurance policy in the event of a catastrophe on earth.
According to Bezos, Amazon is a means to an end, and that "end" is putting man in space.
If Bezos said something that spooked investors, that would be bad for Amazon, and what's bad for Amazon is bad for Bezos' long term goal:
Colonization of space.
Three week ago, Jeff Bezos said the following:
"But, Bezos said, if the Earth's population and energy consumption keeps expanding as it has, we will reach a point where every corner of the planet would need to be covered in solar panels to provide people with the quality of life the developed world has come to expect. "We will run out of energy on Earth," he said. "This is just arithmetic, it's going to happen ... If we move out into the universe, for all practical purposes, we have unlimited resources."
https://www.cnn.com/2019/05/10/tech/jeff-bezos-blue-origin-b...
What I have noticed as that Elon uses metric, and Bezos Imperial units, Imperial units in space just seems stupid to me.
For Hyperloop, he did too. And Hyperloop involve battery powered electric vehicles, tunnels and solar panels (on top). So indirectly, there is a connection.
He also made clear that colonizing Mars, or at least getting partway through is one of his life goals, if not his life goal.
There is definitely a connection. But following the progression, it seems like Mars isn't the reason he started these companies, but "how can I make it useful on Mars" is definitely a consideration.
This just sounds like some tortured narrative.